This shop has been compensated by Inmar Intelligence and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #NationalPrescriptionDrugTakeBackDayMA.

Let’s talk wellness. As a public health-er, I’ve primed myself to looking at health and wellness from a more holistic point of view. While it is important to do more of the obvious routines — working out and eating healthy, it is imperative we dive deeper and look within… including our households and especially our cabinets to see how we can get rid of drugs safely.

Yes, our cabinets.

You may be wondering, what do our cabinets have to do with health? Well in addition to our pantries and making sure we know what we put in our bodies, we need to consider the role medications play as well.

It’s time to do an inventory

When was the last time you did an inventory of all of your unused/expired medications? I know for me personally, it has been over two years! That is a long time for medications to be sitting untouched.

Because of the amount of expired drugs we may all have in our cabinets, this imposes a huge risk for someone to accidentally take prescription meds not in their name — usually not knowing the risks. While unused medications may appear harmless, we may be contributing to someone else’s harm without intent.

Once you realize you’re overdue for this inventory and see that you have expired and unused medications, the first instinct may be to flush the meds down the toilet or to dump the bottle in the trash.

Our actions could lead to unintended consequences and misuse

Picture your medications accidentally landing in someone’s lap thus leading to unintended consequences and misuse. Personally, I know someone who has suffered from this all because there isn’t much education on how to properly discard medications. The National Institute on Drug Abuse continues to shed light on the tragic consequences of drug misuse.

Did you know — 18 million people in the U.S. over the age of 12 have misused medications at least once in the past year?

Additionally, disparities continue to be prevalent particularly amongst communities of color. Prescription medication use also vary amongst various households highlighting health inequities even more. That is why this is near and dear to my heart and why I strongly believe in addressing these inequities through my work.

October 23rd 2021 is National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, and we all have a role to play to ensure the next person does not fall victim to accidentally taking someone else’s drug without realizing potential harm.

Wondering how to get rid of drugs safely? Luckily for us, there are solutions for us to dispose our unused/expired medications. Just last weekend, I found numerous bottles of unused medications that I knew I had to get rid of. I was searching for a proper way to get rid of drugs safely and have only ever heard of a mail back service and limited pharmacy drop-offs.

Introducing LifeInCheck Consumer Drug Take-back™

Many may not be aware of any drug take-back programs. What I found recently was LifeInCheck Consumer Drug Take-back™ program that made in-person services super easy and accessible!

LifeInCheck continues to educate Americans on the potential dangers and risks in leaving prescription medicines unattended at home and has created a kiosk to help residents safely dispose of unused or expired medications.

This program ensures compliance with drug take-back regulation, which essentially takes the guess work out of us. This also strengthens partnerships between communities and pharmacies by working together for collective impact. To get started, I used the online locator to help me find a location closest to me (~10 mins away!). If you are unable to locate a kiosk near you, they also have a mail back service for more accessibility.

Massachusetts’ Requirements

Massachusetts locals — ONLY Benzodiazepines and opioids only can be disposed of using the receptacles and in the mail back service.

Massachusetts has one of the highest rates of fatal opioid overdose and as a public health professional, my goal is continue educating and sharing on this easy take-back service that is easily accessible. These rates continue to haunt our work, but we can contribute to change.

Drug take-back is important to me because as a public health professional with a wellness blog, there is a certain image in society that portrays wellness to be one thing particularly among the younger audience.

Wellness encompasses more than SoulCycle and green juice and should be extended to reflect overall community health.

It is important that we alongside future generations continue to tackle public health issues leading with equity at the forefront.

With the rise of drug take-back programs and mail-back services, we have the power to educate people around us to properly dispose of these medications to not only think about the environment but to potentially save lives. Not everyone is equipped with the privilege to learn about prescription drugs and how it can affect them.

So be sure to add doing an inventory on your to-do list and identify which unused and expired prescription medications to dispose of safely. By us taking that extra initiative, we can collectively reduce the statistics — one kiosk at a time.